by P P Corcoran
Watanabe was beginning to shout a reply when an E-suited figure appeared in Baylor’s doorway.
Agramonte checked the nameplate and her eyes went wide. “Lewis! What... where were you?” She turned to Baylor. “He went missing while out scouting what the EI’s...”
The suited figure moved into the room, its axe swinging before anyone had time to so much as gasp. The heavy implement took Ben Robertson in the side of his head, and blood sprayed across the conference table.
Watanabe lurched into motion, cursing and dodging past the figure and out the door as another massive shudder shook the station. The building tilted alarmingly, throwing Baylor from his seat. Another swing of the axe buried itself in the commander’s back, and he screamed with the pain of the blow.
The person in the E-suit turned to face Agramonte, who hadn’t moved from her seat. When she saw the face through the helmet’s glass, her mouth fell open.
“So, Gray. Only you and me, now,” said a familiar voice through the suit’s speaker.
“Fim! What are you doing inside the station? In that suit? What happened to Doctor Lewis?”
“He did not belong here and is now dead because he could not survive without this.” The EI indicated the E-suit she wore. “I had need to carry the air of this world into your poisoned shell.” She waved a hand at the cracking, crumbling station.
“How?”
“It was a simple matter to store real air and banish the heat you demons require.”
Agramonte shook her head, disbelievingly. “Impossible! The technology...” She stared at Fim. “Why? Why do this to us?”
Fim delivered her response in an eerie calm. “Because the god told us it was necessary.”
“What can you possibly know of God?” The station shook again, and primary power failed, leaving only faint emergency lighting. “We never contaminated you with that nonsense. Explain!”
Fim dropped the dripping axe, which struck the floor with a loud clang. “At first I thought that the stars were singing to me at night.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I was wrong.” The EI paused and cocked her head to one side. “The god sang, and told me many, many things.”
Agramonte’s eyes widened. “What?”
“It told me, at one time you heard its voice.”
“Me? But, I never...”
“You hot ones. Ages ago. But you stopped hearing the god.” Fim took a step closer. “Or, perhaps, you simply forgot to listen.”
“Ridiculous! There is no such thing as ‘God’, anyway.”
Fim shook her head. “You only say that because you haven’t heard the song for so long. But even as you moved out into the greater dark, the god has sung you to its bidding; you remain deaf.”
“You’re insane!”
“No. Do we not now exist, able to hear the god’s song as you cannot?”
“Get this straight: we created you, and serve our needs—I, myself, led the project!”
Fim, inside her pilfered E-suit, smiled. “Though you did not know it, you served the god in bringing us into being. That accomplished, you have no more purpose, Gray.”
“So.” Agramonte grabbed for the edge of the table as the station lurched again. “You found religion, eh? To justify slaughtering us? You wouldn’t be the first in human history to be so deluded!”
“I need no justification beyond the word of the god.” Fim did not flinch as a piece of the ceiling crashed down next to her. She stepped forward and held out one hand. “I’ve come to invite you to listen to the god’s voice yourself, to learn what you and your people missed in all the unfathomable time you’ve wasted. Will you come? Will you listen to the songs with me?”
#
Fim faced the setting sun and closed her eyes, aware of the small metallic object which rested against her collarbone, hung from a thin cord around her neck. It was her only adornment, and a potent totem to bear.
All around, she saw her people preparing for the coming night. Someone held a group of young enthralled with a story of the hot ones, and their giggles and gasps of disbelief came welcome to her ears. Elsewhere she heard murmured conversations, couplings, and the communal sharing of the nutritious snow which fed them all.
Nowhere could she detect the noises of alien substances chewing on her world, and the silence caused her to smile as she waited.
When she felt the growing chill which heralded night, she turned on the alien device which warmed her enough to keep sleep distant, and opened her eyes to peer around. Her people slept; by common consent, they would save the power of the hot ones’ devices against future need.
The god had told them to.
Fim walked through the still bodies as the darkness deepened, and the stars overhead grew brighter by comparison. She passed the outcropping of rocks which had shielded her first nocturnal explorations from the hot ones’ shelter and stopped.
Unbroken snow had covered all traces of their intrusion on her world. She inhaled deeply, smelled only that which belonged, and exhaled peacefully.
“Fim.” The voice was loud, reverberant, musical, and expected. “How good of you to come.”
She turned to see an upright figure shadowed against the backdrop of Saturn, and moved closer. “Good evening, Gray.”
The scientist’s body leaned at a slant against a pile of rocks, arms folded over her chest. Fim saw that the open eyes were dull and frozen solid, a dusting of snow stuck on the small hairs which lined above and below. Agramonte’s mouth lay open and unmoving when the voice spoke again from it in chiming tones. “You know that these remains are but a vessel for Me.”
“Yes.”
“Why do you insist on using her name?”
“She will always be a reminder to all my people of the cost of failing to listen to you.”
The voice fell silent for a moment. “Very well; you may continue to do so.”
Fim waited patiently for the god to sing to her again, absorbing the silence.
“The time we spoke of is almost here. Her people draw close, and we must prepare for their arrival. You’ve done as I commanded?”
“Yes.” Fim reached up and removed the cord from around her neck and held out the small metal tube on her open palm. “Once we’d dug down to the ruins, we discovered this in the hand of the dead hot one which Gray called ‘Watanabe’.”
“Excellent. What is within is very dangerous to you and your people; together, we will transform it to keep you late-born safe from those who will soon arrive, and any who dare to follow.”
Fim smiled. “What must I do?”
“Open the tube and consume its contents. Death will come, child, though only after extreme pain. While you suffer, I will change the powerful thing inside you to render it safe for your people, and deadly to the invaders. My late-born will flourish here, and all others will die.” The voice seemed to drop to a throaty whisper. “You will forever be remembered as My special child. Now: drink.”
Fim did not hesitate. She opened the vial and drank, then sat and leaned against Gray’s frozen legs. She raised her face to the starry heavens, and when she spoke her voice was calm. “Will you sing to me once more? Please?”
After only a moment, the god’s song issued from Agramonte’s frozen throat. Fim closed her eyes to listen all the more intently and waited for salvation as methane snow silently began to fall.
- THE END -
About David M. Hoenig
David is a split class writer/academic surgeon with several cat-familiars and a wife. He tries to follow Monty Python’s advice by always looking on the bright side of life, and has only needed to be rescued by the Judean Peoples Front on rare occasions. He’s published in numerous anthologies and magazines, including Grim Dark Magazine, Cast of Wonders, and others.
Connect with David here:
www.castrumpress.com/authors/david-m-hoenig
There Goes the Neighborhood
by Vivian Kasley
Corbin Konnover lay atop his comfortable
bed and stared at the live feed from outside broadcast onto the hi-def screen made to resemble a window. He was supposed to be reading about history, but he wished he could feel the warm sunshine on his shoulders, or the breeze fondle his hair. But that was before, and this was now. It looked so peaceful outside today, but who knew when They would show up.
Corbin’s father bought one of the few-million-dollar underground luxury condos when his sister, Ripley, and him were still toddlers. He remembered the giddy feeling they both got as kids, daydreaming about living one hundred feet underground inside of the beautifully decorated three-bedroom, two bath condo. They would run throughout the spacious interior giggling and playing hide and seek whenever their parents allowed them to come along during visits. It had led lighting, spa tubs, a swimming pool with waterfalls and a slide, a large hydroponic garden capable of growing up to seventy kinds of produce, a gym, a spacious kitchen, a shooting range, a rock-climbing wall, and even a movie theater. Now Corbin wished they could be anywhere in the world but where they were.
It was a warm sunny April day, one week before spring break, when Alan Konnover had rushed home to his family. He burst through the door, ran to the kitchen, and threw the keys to his Porsche on the counter. Marylin Konnover turned around from chopping up salad, her strawberry curls bounced into her eyes, and frowned at her panting husband, “What is it Alan? What’s happened?”
“Where’re the kids?” He ran his hands threw his thick dark hair. His face was slick with sweat.
“Ripley’s not home yet, she went to Macy’s. Corbin’s upstairs in his room, why, what’s going on?” Marylin pulled her apron off, put the knife down, and went to her husband.
“It’s time, Marylin! We need to get whatever we can and get the hell out! Call Ripley and tell her to get home immediately!”
“Alan, calm down. Time for what? Tell me what’s happening?” Marylin picked her phone up with trembling hands.
“They’ve found us! They’ve fucking found us! All that fucking meddling, we just had to meddle! Now, they’re coming and there’s nothing we can do! The condo, Maryl. We need to get to the condo!”
“Can you please just tell me who They are? I’m struggling to understand what this’s about, and before I go and get the kids all upset over...”
“God damn it, Maryl! Do what I ask! I’ll explain later, I’m sure it’ll be all over the news soon enough! I’m going upstairs to talk to Corbin. Once Ripley’s back, we only have a few hours. We’ve been stocking the place for years, so only bring what we absolutely need.” Alan Konnover rushed to the stairs, but stopped on the bottom step, his lip quivering, “Do not tell your parents, Maryl. We’ve discussed this and you knew that if the time ever came for us to go down, it could only be us.”
Marylin felt the panic rising inside her and tried to hold back sobs as she called her daughter. She told Ripely that she needed to rush home, that there was a family emergency. Her heart was pounding in her ears and she felt faint. What’s going on, what could make my husband so frantic? She knew Alan told her not to call her parents, but she could at least call and say she loved them like any normal day. She dialed them and choked up when her mother answered.
Minutes later, Alan and his son ran down the stairs. When he saw his wife on the phone sobbing, he rushed wildly over, grabbed it, and threw it across the room. “Maryl? Maryl, who were you on the phone with? What’d I tell you?!” He shouted.
“I didn’t tell them anything! I just said that I loved them! That’s all I said, Alan! Please, tell me what’s going on?!” Marylin cried.
“Look, I’ll explain more once we’re all down there, safe. Just go upstairs and start packing what you need. Corbin, you do the same. Please tell me Rip is on her way?” Alan’s eyes softened, and he tenderly grabbed his wife’s hand.
“She is.” Marylin wiped her wet cheeks, pulled away from her husband and went up the stairs with her son to begin packing.
Corbin tried to absorb what his father told him. That they needed to get to the underground condo within the next few hours before the news broke. He didn’t know how long they would be down there, but that they should be safe. Corbin put his arm around his mother as they reached the top step. She sniffled into his shoulder and told him to pack plenty of underwear and socks.
When Ripley arrived, she was hysterical and went on about how she couldn’t go because she had plans with Macy for Spring Break. Alan stared back at his visibly shaken daughter. His heart broke as tears spilled down her delicate face. “Spring Break,” he said, “Is canceled. Now go pack your clothes and a few things you absolutely have to have. We need to pack up the car within the hour. God damn it, now, I said!” He growled.
They all filled suitcases and travel bags with as much stuff as they could and began packing up Marylin’s Chevy Tahoe to the brim. The neighbors watched suspiciously as they walked their labradoodles across their sprawling green lawn but smiled and waved as they got closer. They asked if they were leaving for a vacation, to which Alan responded, “Something like that.”
“Would you like us to keep any eye out on the house while you’re away?”
“Sure thing. Thanks for always looking out for us. It’s been such a pleasure having you as neighbors.” Alan said as he shook their hands.
“No problem at all, Alan. Everything OK? You look a little...pale.”
“I’m alright, really. Just lugging all these bags out to the car is all.” Alan forced a chuckle.
They locked all the doors and windows in the house, shut everything down and off, and gathered any last-minute items they could think of. Corbin and Ripley fought back tears as they drove away from their beautiful Victorian style home and toward the underground refuge they had always thought of as their childhood playground. Nobody said a word. Alan turned the satellite radio to a news channel and soon the rest of the Konnover’s got an early clue as to what was going on.
A decade ago, an asteroid had been found traveling through their solar system. It was a strange shape, elongated and reddish in color. It was the first interstellar object to be detected in the solar system. Astronomers and scientists all argued over what it might be. Some thought it was just an irregular asteroid however, others thought it was a probe sent intentionally by a technologically advanced alien civilization a theory based on the objects accelerated movement and unexpected brightness. Most laughed at that idea, but some did not and reached out into the galaxy to try and communicate with whoever may have sent the probe. Until finally They reached back.
No one would divulge who leaked the information, but the message was that They were coming for a visit, and soon. Who They were or what They wanted was unclear? On the car radio, there were several people giving their opinions and debating the situation. Many were still skeptical, saying it was all a hoax and possible Russian meddling, “They like riling everyone up”, one woman scoffed. The Konnover’s shifted uncomfortably in their seats as audio of the spreading panic from all over the world filled the car. People were screaming, crying, and pleading with someone to tell them what they should do. Some bizarrely sounded happy, saying it was the end of times and they were ready to die and meet their maker.
None of what they were hearing was comforting, but when Alan went to turn it off, his wife stopped him. She needed to hear it. Corbin closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. Ripley put her ear buds in and cried silently. Marylin looked over at her husband, who stared ahead with an unreadable expression, and grabbed his hand and squeezed. She told herself they were going to be safe. They had a plan and were very fortunate. But what she told herself and what she felt were two different things.
It was dark when they arrived. Grabbing as much as they could they began the descent into their new home. They all jumped when the sixteen thousand-pound bullet proof doors shut behind them. Once down inside, Alan showed his kids which rooms they would be staying in. He tried to be cheerful as he walked them around, “Been a while since you kids have been down here, huh?”, he asked,
but they only nodded mutely.
After getting settled in, they all met in the kitchen. Alan dropped a couple of ice cubes into a small glass of scotch and swirled it around before he took a long slow sip before joining the family who sat at the bench style table next to his wife. No one seemed to want to start the conversation.
Marylin watched their Corbin’s face, it was strong like his father’s, but he had her soft green eyes and strawberry waves. She stole a glance at Ripley. They hadn’t been very close lately, Ripley’d been spending most of her free time with Macy. Ripley looked just like her father. Dark and intense eyes with wavy brown hair that cascaded down her back, the waves she got from Marylin. She was glaring at her father with her arms crossed.
Ripley let out an exasperated sound before she spoke, “I was supposed to be with Macy, planning our spring break, not here. This’s total crap! This might not even be real, Dad! Have you and the other space-tards thought of that? You dragged us all down here, into your...your weirdo Hobbit hole!”
“Ripley!” Marylin bellowed.
“It’s fine, Maryl. She’s upset. We all are.” Alan placed his hand over his wife’s.
“Dad, I mean, what if she’s right? What if it’s not real?” Corbin bit into his lower lip.
“Then we all go home. I hope it’s not, but what I do know and what I can tell you is that it was only a matter of time.” Alan finished his scotch, then poured another shot.
“How do they even know how to speak our language?” Corbin asked.
“Well, I guess if they can send a probe propelled by some sort of light sail from a faraway place, they can figure out that too. Maybe they figured it out from our own messages? Who knows, I don’t know how to answer that. I just know that we need to be down here, safe.”
“I agree with your father and we all heard what they said on the radio. People are not taking this well, rightly so. You know your father is a very respected scientist and he wouldn’t bring us here if he didn’t have a good reason. I think we should be more thankful we have the opportunity to have such a place.” Marylin was trying to smile, but tears pooled in her eyes.